Linguistics+Dimensions+Study

The school in which I work, Saint Michael Academy, is a small (200 students) all-girls Catholic school on the west side of Manhattan. Students commute from all five boroughs, New Jersey, Long Island and Yonkers. Of all students, 58% are Hispanic, 39% Black, 2% Asian and 1% White. Saint Michael’s is the most affordable all-girls school in Manhattan and, as such, it attracts students with greater financial need than some other Catholic schools and 75% receive free or reduced lunch. Students (75%) receive financial aid from a number of sources. I am working with one student for a case study for CTGE 5536. Jasmine (name changed), a senior in my AP English Literature class, is Black and lives in Washington Heights, the northern tip of Manhattan. She is a high-achieving and very hard-working student. I plan on exploring her neighborhood. Jasmine has agreed to be my guide and I am already working with her outside of class. We will discuss her neighborhood directly then. I know that there are other students who live near Jasmine in Washington Heights. Carmen, Lisa and Sallie, all Dominican, are all students in my class. I will be paying particular attention to them in class, in the hallways and in lunch. These students are involved in several clubs that I run. I will also listen to them then. These students have expressed interest in language and the way that they are perceived due to their use of language. We will explicitly discuss this. All of these students speak English. They mostly speak Standard English in school. At home, two of them speak Spanish (Lisa and Sallie), one speaks English (Jasmine) and one speaks both (Carmen). They have already informed me that in Washington Heights I will find a mix of Spanish and English. When I asked them about visiting their neighborhood, Carmen said to me, “Sure. How good is your Spanish, miss?”
 * Phase 1- Neighborhood Selection**

**Phase 2**- **Data Collection** I thought, given the student that I originally focused on is Black, that I would focus on what it is like to be a minority minority in Washington Heights. It seems, however, that the issue that is most pressing for my students, in Washington Heights and other neighborhoods, is code-switching and being accused of "talking white." This has been my focus in data collection where I am further focusing on Dominican students from Washington Heights who excel academically.

I began my research by researching the neighborhood and its Dominican population because I had little to no prior knowledge concerning Washington Heights and I wanted a knowledge base from which to launch my conversations with my students. On a New York University class project site, I found an excellent compilation of facts about the neighborhood including information about demographics, home life, religion, school, politics and community services. From a March, 2007 New York Times article, I gathered more detailed information on the changes in demographics. This information was very useful for my own knowledge, but I needed a more intriguing way to begin my conversations with my students, a way to get them talking about the specifics of their neighborhood and the discourse and Discourse there. I recalled everything I knew about Washington Heights. Aside from my students, my major source of information was, almost embarrassingly, a Broadway musical, //In the Heights//. I looked up information about the musical itself, including lyrics to the songs and information about its star and lyricist. I had found the way to start interesting conversations with my students. The conversations I had with my students about language, authenticity and perceptions that came from simple questions about //In the Heights//, were amazing. Obviously, students are some of the best authorities on student language. These discussions led to many interesting topics and comments in the small group of residents of Washington Heights I was working with. I started each group meeting with specific discussion questions in mind, but the topics we touched on were wide-ranging and sometimes meandering. In discussions about slang, we spoke about family, Spanish, work and college. In conversations about past teachers, we spoke about volume, the future and street signs in Spanish. In conversations about college we spoke about formal writing, judgmental adults and New York City public education. They had a lot to say. While conducting these scheduled discussions with my Washington Heights students, I was also paying close attention to their language both during those conversations and in other settings. I wanted to note differences between the ways they spoke to me in and out of class. I also wanted to see the differences between how they spoke to me and how they spoke to their classmates, friends and family. I wanted to see if there were differences between what they articulated during our conversations about their language and their practice as language users. The culmination of my research was actually going to Washington Heights. My students were proud to show me their neighborhoods and homes and I was interested to see where they live. We explored stores and churches and collected news and gossip. I finally had a picture of Washington Heights and an understanding of the discourse and Discourse that make Washington Heights the vibrant neighborhood it is.
 * article- __http://www.nyu.edu/ classes/blake.map2001/ dominican2.html__
 * article- __http://www.nytimes. com/2007/03/04/nyregion/ thecity/04domi.html__
 * lyrics- __http://www.stlyrics. com/lyrics/intheheights/ intheheights.htm__
 * musical- __http://www. intheheightsthemusical.com/__
 * article- __http://nymag.com/daily/ entertainment/2008/03/ linmanuel_miranda_of_in_the_ he.html__
 * student survey- the authenticity of //In the Heights-// Appendix
 * student discussion- the authenticity of //In the Heights//
 * student interviews- four seniors girls who live in Washington Heights (three Dominican, one Black)
 * student discussion- Are there words that should be banned in school? Do you censor yourself?
 * student discussion- How have teachers addressed the use of slang/home language in school? How has that affected you out of school?
 * student discussion- Between neighborhood and school, what are your "moments of tension"?
 * student discussion- Where do you plan on going to college? Do you think you'll change there?
 * overheard informal conversation with classmates- hallways, cafeteria, out of school, after school, street
 * overheard informal conversation with friends- hallways, cafeteria, out of school, after school, street
 * overheard informal conversations with parents and family- report card day
 * conversations with parents and family
 * in-class conversations- during class work, group work, presentations, small group/ large group discussions
 * writing samples- essays, quizzes, tests, informal and formal writing
 * neighborhood news- informal conversations with strangers and friends
 * neighborhood tour- student-led

**Phase 3: Analysis and Findings** I mostly viewed Washington Heights through the eyes of four specific students. Even when I toured the neighborhood, I had these students as my guides. Jasmine, a Black student, is a minority in Washington Heights. She moved there in middle school and says most of her social life takes place at school, not in her neighborhood (Hayes, personal communication, 2009). Carmen, another one of my guides, is Dominican and grew up in Washington Heights, but has a desperate desire to get out. Carmen wants to be an actress and she speaks with an absolutely unidentifiable accent. It may be an attempt at British. She views Washington Heights as a launching pad to bigger and better things and was familiar with //In the Heights// already. She loved discussing it in class and seeing where someone from her neighborhood had taken himself (Salgado, 2009). My other two guides, Lisa and Sallie, are identical twins. Also Dominican, they are some of the shyest students I have ever met and if they did not have each other to speak to, I doubt they would speak at all. They had some very interesting insights into Dominican culture in Washington Heights and act as outsiders while inside the culture. All four of these girls are very hard-working. They are all in my AP English course because of their dedication to their studies. They all plan on going to college and, when I asked, said they did not want to live in Washington Heights for the rest of their lives.

Over and over, my students discussed with me how the Dominican population in Washington Heights is “just plain loud” (Diaz, L., 2009). I had noticed this already by observing Dominican students in the halls and cafeteria at school. While they are certainly not the only students in the school who love to talk, they do seem to take a lot of pleasure in expressing themselves orally. There are quite a few lunch tables in the cafeteria where only Dominican students sit. I have sat through entire periods where there was not a single lull in the conversation. Students speak over and around each other comfortably. I have observed classrooms where the students attempt the same kind of discourse; it does not work as well there. The students (even non-Dominicans) are mostly fine with the conversation; the teacher is not. I had also expected this comment because of my research. All of the sources I reviewed before my conversations with my students mentioned the importance of oral discourse in the Dominican culture. Even the play //In the Heights// dwells on it, focusing on the loquacious main character, Usnavi.

What I did not expect was just how hung up on loud oral discourse my students were. Jasmine reacted strongly to it because she felt like an outsider. She is not a quiet girl, but she mentioned being overwhelmed by her neighborhood. She said, “It’s tough to get used to. Everyone talks to everyone all the time, all day” (Hayes, 2009). Carmen, the actress, brought it up as well. She said, “People in my neighborhood scream to each other” (Salgado, 2009). While we walked through the neighborhood together, Carmen spoke to many shop owners and people on the street. After I asked her if she was always this friendly, she said, “It’s like I told you, miss. People up here like to talk” (Salgado, 2009). Immediately after that comment, she spotted someone she knew across the street and yelled him over to come meet me.

Lisa and Sallie, the reclusive twins, had the most interesting reactions to the volume of Dominican culture and the sheer number of words used by their neighbors. Lisa said, “When I hear people talk like this, I actually think it is disrespectful. I think it is really disturbing. If by talking you are going to scream, I prefer you whisper” (Diaz, 2009). She brought up over and over again that the volume of Dominican discourse, both in her neighborhood, in other parts of the city and in school, was “inappropriate” (Diaz, 2009). She was especially appalled by other teenagers, and said, “I live close to a public high school. When kids come out, it’s not something you would want to hear (Diaz, 2009). Her sister’s reactions were less negative. Sallie also expressed being put off by the volume other Dominicans’ speech, but she used different wording and ideas. She said, “The people talk to each other as if they are all family…They talk slang to each other. They do not have any respect for each other but everyone believe they should be respected” (Diaz, 2009). She also said, “…everybody gets along, but inside is when people truly show their colors. They love to gossip. Everybody in my neighborhood know each other” (Diaz, 2009). Both girls were dismayed by the use of “bad words” (Diaz, L., 2009) because of how it made the neighborhood look to outsiders. They seemed afraid that I would judge them based on their neighbors’ behavior.

The most intriguing interaction I had with oral Dominican culture was in a conversation with Lisa and Sallie’s mother. I could not get a word into the conversation, although she was incredibly happy to be speaking with me. Mrs. Diaz embodied everything that Lisa and Sallie had been speaking about. The volume of her voice was very loud. She spoke quickly and often and jumped in at any opportunity. I’ve spoken at length to Lisa and Sallie about their mother. They are both incredibly proud of her and they love her fiercely. Both of their college essays focus on their mother and her struggles in the United States. Neither Lisa nor Sallie has ever mentioned anything about Mrs. Diaz’s embrace of typical Dominican oral discourse.

The second most common comment my students made about Dominican discourse concerned the mix of Spanish and English. Jasmine, discussing //In the Heights//, said, “I think it’s very realistic, especially since they didn’t bother to offer explanations over what the Spanish phrases meant, much like in real life” (Hayes, 2009). She spoke about the Hispanic business owners in her neighborhood and that a lot of the signs and menus are written in Spanish and “bad English” (Hayes, 2009). Sallie agreed and commented that it made sense. She said, “My family is indeed Dominican and we speak mostly Spanish to each other…Outside, people tend to speak English and Spanish at the same time” (Diaz, 2009). Carmen said, “My neighborhood is mostly made up of dem. Everyone has an accent, especially when they speak broke English. We all use slang or Spanglish” (Salgado, 2009). Lisa again reacted strongly. She said, “People do not speak the right English //or// Spanish. They just mix it all up real fast” (Diaz, 2009).

I have stumbled through many a parent conference using my elementary Spanish. The parents pepper their rapid Dominican Spanish with as much English as they know and we can usually communicate. Often, when speaking to Hispanic parents, the student acts as translator and I have observed them using Spanglish, not searching for the Spanish word for “quiz” or “progress report.” Dominican students, when they speak to each other in school, tend to use mostly English. This may be because of the academic pressures at school. They do sometimes use Spanglish, but the percentage of English to Spanish in their school version of Spanglish is about 80% to 20%. Out of school, even on the street right outside of school, the percentages change and there is much more Spanish. When we traveled to Washington Heights, Carmen spoke mostly in Spanish to many of the people we meet. We ran in to another student from our school, a girl I had never heard speak Spanish, and they spoke to each other mainly in Spanish. Also while touring the neighborhood, the students pointed out Spanish signs to me and different Hispanic businesses. We witnessed many different people in the neighborhood speaking in different intensities of Spanglish.

My four students from Washington Heights are very different, but they have in common a desire to excel academically. They agree that learning to speak and use Standard English is a key part of academic success. I asked the students what they thought of being accused of “talking white.” Lisa answered, “I like it” (Diaz, 2009). Carmen was reflective. She said, “The whole speaking white thing, I’m used to it. It once confused me. I’ve come to accept it. It’s part of doing good in school. It’s part of becoming somebody. I suppose most people speak in slang. I don’t” (Salgado, 2009). All four of the students called Washington Heights or its residents “ghetto” at some point and expressed a desire to be different. Lisa said, “I am Dominican and for some reason I wish I was from Spanish or just white” (Diaz, 2009). She spoke about how school would be easier then, if she grew up speaking English or “proper” Spanish (Diaz, 2009). Sallie said, “A lot of teenagers speak improperly. You have to work really hard to not be like that when everyone around you is. You have to ignore everyone in your neighborhood and be OK with being made fun of for doing good in school and stuff” (Diaz, 2009).

In a conversation we had after I had taught a grammar lesson in class, the students thanked me. They spoke about how their teachers always talked about grammar (including me, at the beginning of the year) and told them they had to have better grammar, but then the teachers did not teach the students anything about grammar. “Or if they did, miss,” complained Jasmine, “they just gave us those dumb worksheets” (Hayes, 2009). They all expressed frustration about Standard English. They know it is important, but they have trouble keeping track of it or “sticking to it” (Salgado, 2009). I’ve listened to them in class and small discussions. The more impassioned and involved they are about the topic, the less likely they are to “stick to” Standard English, but these are all students who are very eloquent when they are passionate, whether in Standard or non-Standard English. These students drop the letter “s” from some words, often do not use apostrophes for contractions and use the “habitual be” in speaking and writing. When these “slips” (Diaz, L., 2009) are pointed out, they are quick to correct themselves and hyper-vigilant afterwards.

From these four students, all outsiders in the Dominican culture of the neighborhood in some way, I learned many important elements of that culture. It is an oral culture. Typical Dominican students will speak. They will speak loudly, often, out of order and quickly. It is a culture that blurs the lines between Spanish and English. Dominican students will be comfortable moving between the two languages and will transfer grammar rules from their home language to their use of Standard English. Finally, it is a proud culture and one that values education. I have spoken with many Dominican mothers and they all push education as a way to get ahead. My four students typify this by expressing their desire to learn to be fluent in and in control of Standard English. My challenge is to harness their talents and the elements of their Discourse to help these students, and future students, succeed in their goals.

**Phase 4: Turn to Teaching** Through this study, I have determined that my students come from an oral culture and a bilingual culture. My students are also motivated to be fluent in Standard English. The question is, how can I use this information to help my students?

My class is already one that is oral and focused on discussion. In order to use my students’ strengths, however, I must create an environment conducive to “authentic discussion” (McCann, Johannessen, Kahn, Flanagan, 2006). The discussions about literature and language must, if they are to help my students explore their own thoughts, be expansive and unscripted. If authentic discussion is going to take place, I cannot ask students questions with predetermined answers. I must “admit having some doubts about knowing a definitive answer to the question…(to) facilitate discussion with an //authentic// openness to exploring possibilities and testing claims” (McCann et al., 2006, p. 3). My students are accustomed to being right or wrong. They are accustomed to an answer key. Last week we discussed __Hamlet__ and I asked them a question I genuinely did have doubts about. We tried to determine if the ghost of Hamlet’s father actually exists, or if he is a figment of Hamlet’s imagination. The girls launched into a passionate debate. They pulled out their texts, flipped through pages, cut each other off, waved their arms in the air and in general made me a very happy teacher. When I ended the conversation so they could have time to practice their scenes, they were devastated. “But miss!” Sarah cried, “What is the answer?” They were amazed when I said I didn’t know. They are still talking about it.

I can manage my students’ authentic discussion and exploration by carefully using groups. As __Talking in Class__ mentions, it would be irresponsible to assume that my students can put themselves into productive groups. Sometimes the groups should be formed by chance and sometimes the groups should be carefully determined by me with special attention to students’ ability (McCann et al., 2006, p. 37-38). The students can be grouped with varying abilities and talents in each group, so that the students can teach each other. When my students work on peer editing and revision, I group them in this way. Students who consistently struggle with the same concepts are not grouped together because that would merely enforce those concepts, or let the students ignore them all together. Conversely, when I will be giving direct instruction to a small group, I do put all of the students who struggle with the same concept in the same group. Then we can address it together while the rest of the class works on more appropriate material.

Group work is a technique that will harness my students’ oral abilities. By having many small groups, many students will get a chance to speak. In a large, whole-class discussion, not all students will get a chance, and this can be frustrating to students who excel when expressing themselves orally. If there are fewer students clamoring to speak, as in a small group, each student has more time to talk. This also works for my students, like Lisa and Sallie, who do not like to participate in class discussions. They are much more likely to participate in small group discussions. Usually, when sharing the findings from their small groups discussions, I let my students elect a speaker, someone comfortable speaking in front of the entire class.

A specific group discussion technique to try is the fish bowl discussion. Students have a student-run discussion in a small group. The rest of the class observes and writes down what they would like to share (McCann et al., 2006, p. 83-85). In a fish bowl, the students get to participate in a small discussion, giving everyone a chance to speak and shielding the shyer students. At the same time, the entire class gets to benefit from the discussion and we all get to explore the ideas brought up.

All of this group work and speaking, however, is useless if the discussion is not authentic. Open-ended questions are a good beginning, but I have to design the lesson so that all of the students learn from it. It will do me no good to get my Dominican students going if //where// they are going is off topic. __Talking in Class__ suggests giving each student a question as she walks into class and then giving her time to think about her question. With that head start, the class can launch into discussion with twenty to thirty questions in mind. The teacher asks the question and at least one student has had time to think about it. Other students can volunteer, but a conversation is nearly guaranteed (McCann et al., 2006, p. 169). Another technique is to give the students time to write before asking them to engage in discussion (McCann et al., 2006, p. 14). Before we began our Hamlet discussion, I had my students write down either “yes” or “no.” I have had too many discussions in class stalled by students who insist on “maybe” or “I don’t know.” By having the students commit before hand, I was sure of opinions. I also gave the students time to write about why they thought what they did. They could discuss their own feelings or textual evidence, or anything else that came to mind. By letting them think and write before we spoke, I noticed that students who normally may not participate had their hands waving in the air.

Authentic discussion in the classroom needs to engage the student. The teacher should “create controversy” and “pose questions or problems that do not have easy or obvious solutions.” Discussion should be relevant to the students’ lives and, crucially, the students should have enough time to respond to the questions (McCann et al., 2006, p. 51-53). It is my job as teacher to begin the connections and to direct my students to the controversy in the texts we study. There is plenty to go around in every piece of literature, from Medea killing her children to Hamlet loving his mother. As an English teacher, I have a wealth of topics to draw on and an endless supply of oedipal complexes to unleash on my students. There is no end to the controversy in literature. Fortunately, there is also timelessness to the works in the canon that we study. No matter what my Dominican students from Washington Heights might think, they do share commonalities with Dr. Frankenstein.

I also have to harness my students’ Spanglish. Collier (1995) found that, “…second language acquisition is a complex phenomenon, a lifelong process, with many parallels with first language acquisition” (p. 6). This is a challenge. My students who learned to speak Spanish first will spend a lifetime learning English. But this is also wonderful news because my students who learned English first are still learning English. The students are just at different stages in developing their language use. A more complicated issue is raised, perhaps, by students who have grown up speaking both Spanish and English. These students also blur the two languages and their grammar conventions. It is important to remember, always, that the language acquisition process is not a linear process (Collier, 1995, p. 6). Students do not meet a challenge, master it, memorize it and apply it consistently from then on. Students’ mastery and application depends on context and subtle variations. It can take seven to ten years for an English language learner to acquire academic language (Collier, 1995, p. 9). As a teacher, I must recognize the challenges my bilingual students face, the struggles they have gone through and are going through. They may have mastered social language and their oral use of English may be deceiving (Collier, 1995, p. 8). All language use depends on context. Lessons should include both social and academic language (Collier, 1995, p. 9) to allow students to explore both and to express themselves. Group work is integral to this. It allows students to verbalize their thoughts without the pressures of Standard English they may feel in a whole-class discussion with the teacher listening and leading. In a small group, the students can use slang and can use Spanglish, more freely, if that’s what it takes to get to the bottom of a literary mystery. This also gives us the chance to explicitly discuss those types of language, to help increase the students’ awareness of the multiple languages they use every day.

Teaching students who may think in other languages, I have to be aware of their fluencies and use them to our advantage in the classroom. Hill and Flynn (2006) write that, “Verbatim note taking is the least effective way to take notes” (p. 69). I have had to wean my students from this practice, especially students who speak both Spanish and English, or mostly Spanish. When students try to take down every word the teacher says, the student is unable to think through what the teacher is proposing. For a student who speaks multiple languages, the act of note taking is especially challenging. I have encouraged my students to experiment with note taking to find what works for them. Sometimes they use slang in their notes. They can use informal English. They can take notes in Spanish. I have given my students teacher-prepared notes, to show them the formats I like to use and I let them know that these notes work for me, but that the particular format is not required. Over the course of the year, I introduce a variety of forms for note taking so the student can find the one best suited to her own learning style (Hill and Flynn, 2006, p. 70-71).

I also encourage my students to use their other languages. My Dominican students speak Spanish, some students in my class have taken Latin, a number of the girls speak French or Creole and one speaks Italian. Between them, we can usually find some connection when we are working out a definition for a vocabulary word. I have given my students a list of roots, prefixes and suffixes (Beers, 2003, p. 315-322) and we looked at the commonalities that words have in many languages. Students can see their bilingual abilities as an advantage.

The students’ attitudes towards their own languages are very important. Hill and Flynn (2006) recommend that teachers “explicitly teach students the importance of effort” through personal stories, examples and sharing experiences (p. 88). A teacher should help her students make the connection between language and effort in the classroom. It is not always easy, and that should be made clear. No student should feel like she struggles alone. Teachers should keep track of their students’ effort and the students’ various successes (Hill and Flynn, 2006, p.88). That is another connection that needs to be made explicit to the student. She needs to see that her effort leads to success. She needs it to be made personal so that her learning in regard to language is clear and full of progress. It should be a positive experience for her.

Students’ feelings about language are important in the social climate of a classroom. Collier (2006) writes, “Majority-minority and inter-ethnic relations, as well a social class differences, are at the heart of these factors influencing second language acquisition and success in school” (p. 25). Student perceptions of themselves and others affect the discourse of a classroom. The class, the teacher and the students, must value the languages of the classroom whether Standard English, Spanish, Spanglish or other Englishes. A student cannot work toward fluency and masterful code-switching if she is self-conscious about her languages. It is the teacher’s responsibility to direct the students in their interactions with each other so that every student feels safe and valued. It is also the teacher’s responsibility to work with students who have negative self-images regarding their language. I have a lot of work to do with Lisa and Sallie. I need to take their frustration with their culture and neighborhood and use it for good, to help them with their goals of mastering Standard English. I do not want to dismiss their opinions, only to channel them, especially so no other students are upset by the twins’ strong reactions to Spanglish and slang.

With all students, but especially bilingual and English language learners, the teacher must involve the parents. Hill and Flynn (2006) write that parents can inform educators of “the students’ native languages and cultures, the length and quality of prior formal education in their native language, any previous education they have received in U.S. schools, the amount of time they have been in the United States, and the extent of their exposure to English” (p. 111). The teacher can use all of this information to develop a picture of the student as a learner and to create a plan for the student. The parent is an important resource, but the teacher must also remember that “parents from other cultures may view their role in their child’s education differently than U.S. parents (Hill and Flynn, 2006, p. 115). All of this information, including understanding the parent’s role, can help me as a teacher to better reach my students.

The specific students I teach this year are self-motivated when it comes to their educations. They have expressed great interest in mastering Standard English because of their desire to succeed in college and in business and because they are aware of how they will be judged on language outside of school. In my class, we have explicitly discussed Standard English as an idea. Wheeler and Swords (2006) found that it is simply “the standard because it is the language variety spoken by the educated, affluent, power-elite of the nation (p. 12). My students love to talk about language, to think about how it is mutable and beautiful. They love to think about how Standard English changes and about how words from slang become accepted. They could go on for days about standard versus non standard being good versus bad and they could tell horror stories from twelve years of New York City education for days if I let them. Some of these students have definitely been scarred by their teachers’ opinions about English. I aim not to permanently damage any of my students, but, perhaps, to help a few of them with some of their more painful memories.

It has been difficult for me to flip my own switch. It seems almost like instinct to “correct” a student’s grammar. I’ve thought, “It’s for her own good. She plans on going to college. She needs to speak Standard English.” Many teachers will defend their actions the same way. But correcting a student tells her that her language is wrong; that it is bad (Wheeler and Swords, 2006, p. 58). Correcting the student does not teach the student how to change. As a teacher, I must determine what areas of language and grammar I need to focus on in my class and with individual students. I must listen to their actual language and respond to their actual writing, not just what I think they ought to learn. I need to pay attention and when I am paying attention and I notice my students deviating from Standard English, I must stop myself from scolding and simply note that topic as one I need to teach (Wheeler and Swords, 2006, p. 59). I simply have to do my job and teach my students what they do not know. What they do not know is how to recognize formal and informal patterns of language (Wheeler and Swords, 2006, p. 71). I need to teach my students how to see their language, and hear it, so that they can effectively code-switch. They do it already, haphazardly. I need to be a good teacher and help them. They have already expressed an overwhelming desire to succeed in this area. They need the tools to be able to do so. We have begun working with contrastive analysis (Wheeler and Swords, 2006, p. 61) so that my students can recognize their own languages. We will move along from there until they are fully fluent in any form of English they want to be fluent in and are able to recognize when the forms are appropriate.

My students have already taught me quite a lot this year. It is now my job to pull together all of their talents in order to help them learn. I will have a classroom full of authentic discussion, discussion that is directed and deep and exciting, discussions they will take with them out of high school. I will have a classroom full of language, any language that helps my student learn. I will have a classroom bubbling over with Standard English, when it is appropriate to use it.

Appendix **Neighborhood:** ___________________
 * Name: ____________________**
 * Background:** //In the Heights// is a musical currently on Broadway. Here’s an interesting tidbit. A graduate of Saint Michael Academy, Class of 1974, is currently a member of the cast (oh the places you’ll go!). The attached lyrics are from the opening scene. Read through the lyrics and answer the following questions based on the lyrics and your own prior knowledge.
 * 1) How realistic/authentic do you think this scene is (especially the types of language and words the characters use)?
 * 2) The play was written by someone from Washington Heights. What do you think about that?
 * 3) Who sees Broadway shows (another tidbit: tickets to this show cost $75-$120 each)?
 * 4) Why might people choose to see a show about Washington Heights?
 * 5) What is your neighborhood like? How do people speak to each other?

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References

Beers, Kylene. (2003). //When kids can’t read: What teachers can do//. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.

Collier, Virginia, P. (1995). //Promoting academic success for ESL students: Understanding// //second language acquisition for school//. Jersey City, NY: New Jersey Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages-Bilingual Educators.

Fernandez, Manny. (2007, March 4). New winds at island outpost. //New York Times//. Retrieved from __http://www.nytimes.com/2007/ 03/04/nyregion/thecity/04domi. html? _r=2__

Hill, J. and Flynn, K. (2006). //Classroom instruction that works with English language learners.// Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

//In the Heights//. Retrieved from __http://www. intheheightsthemusical.com/__

//In the Heights lyrics//. Retrieved from __http://www.stlyrics.com/ lyrics/intheheights/ intheheights.htm__

McCann, T., Johannessen, L., Kahn, E., and Flanagan, J. (2006). //Talking in class: Using// //discussion to enhance teaching and learning//. Urbana, IL: Nation Council of teachers of English.

Murphy, T. (Interviewer) & Miranda, L. (Interviewee). (2008). //Lin-Manuel Miranda of ‘In the// //Heights’ on No Longer Being in the Heights//. Retrieved from New York Magazine website: __http://nymag.com/daily/ entertainment/2008/03/ linmanuel_miranda_of_in_the_ he.html__

Nguyen P. and Sanchez, J. (2001). //Voices of New York: Ethnic communities in New York City:// //Dominicans in Washington Heights.// Retrieved from __http://www.nyu.edu/ classes/blake.map2001/ dominican2.html__

Wheeler, R. and Swords, R. (2006). //Code-switching: Teaching Standard English in urban// //classrooms//. Urbana, IL: National council of Teachers of English.